GENEVA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) — At least 5,712 people worldwide have been killed by the A/H1N1 influenza, an increase of more than700 in a week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a latest update on Friday.

Of all the deaths, 4,175 occurred in the Americas, 605 occurred in South-East Asia and 465 occurred in the West Pacific. The other three WHO regions — Europe, East Mediterranean and Africa — reported 281, 111 and 75 deaths respectively.

    The WHO, which declared the H1N1 flu as a pandemic in June, said the total number of lab confirmed cases worldwide is now over 441,661, but this case count is significantly lower than the actual number of cases that have occurred because many countries have stopped testing and reporting individual cases.

    In the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, influenza transmission continues to intensify marking an unusually early start to winter influenza season in some countries, according to the UN agency.

Popularity: 1% [?]